Pickleball! Nationals 3.5, 50+ Gold Medal Match! One Of The Best Played Matches You Will Ever See! 

Top to bottom or bottom to top an exceptional match to watch while listening to Rory's comments. Well done to all.

What a joy to watch this matchup - truly beautiful pickleball! This is the type of pickleball I aspire towards!

Really masterful. I wish all pickleball was like this. This is the best demonstration I've seen of what the average athlete or 50+ should emulate and aspire to. Lady in pink/orange is OG Lindsay Newman.

I agree that their short game is very good. That said, a lot of missed chances for speed ups and put aways. Most points would have been shorter with some well-placed aggression. Only watched for a bit, but I could feel you almost saying "put it away" several times. Do prefer this style of play over banging out a quick game though.

Love this new commentary format of not stopping the games, but rather commenting and replaying when necessary. I enjoyed your content before, but now i find it so much more consumable.

Cory, I used to think I was a 3.5 player. If these players are 3.5 then I am a 1.5. The guy who jumped the net has the softest hands I have ever seen. His dinks and resets are insane, purposeful and they always got them up to the net. The lady in orange is unbelievable with her ability to keep the ball in play.

For what it’s worth, this bracket had about 60 teams in it. Play started at 8:00 AM and this gold medal match concluded about 11:30 PM! They were all tired. Thanks for all the comments.

best instructional videos on the web learned so much watching thx rory

A true clinic !! Sad how few people were there to see it. Anyone of these four would be a interesting interview.

This was a fun video to watch. I rarely ever play or watch long dinking games at the rec center because of pop-ups, smashers, and bangers and because of the random match-ups in open play. Kudos to the older couple for their skills and strategies. 👏

That was a great game. I picked the underdogs from the beginning. By far the best 3.5 playing I've seen.

Love your channel! This was a great match to watch. I'm a beginner so learning a lot.

Very good dinkers. 4 to 4.5 on their dinks and drops. They miss a number of put aways. So in my opinion they a 4.0 overall.

I really enjoyed watching these players. Definitely higher than 3.5. Well done to all!

Great players, all of them. Tremendous patience shown by all

Great games. Thank you for posting and commentating. According to these ratings I am barely a 2.0.

So glad you posted all 3 of these games. I had seen the final on Team Hanlon a couple of days ago and thought I should send for you to "pick apart" --though not much to pick apart here. I recognized them instantly--what fantastic games. I saved the final video for future reference. As you mentioned, I'll be looking at the lady in orange for defense pointers.

Soooo amazing! Proud of that team for winning it all

That 3.5 at national’s was a great match. I really enjoy watching your channel. Still out with knee surgery. Gaining a lot of information I hope to be a much better when I get back on the court

Awesome play!

These players are deceivingly good, they know how to play the game, where to be where to be on the court at all times, it looks like very smart play to me. I have no idea how to rank someone, but I agree with you. They should definitely be higher than a 3.5 very enjoyable to watch.

Fun to watch

Love your commentaries. Great feedback and lessons to learn. Would you think it's better to train with those around your age or at higher skill levels. Questioning if being body-bagged by stronger players decades younger than you.

Great game and commentary. I love to hit a 3rd drive and a 5th drop unless I have a great ball to drop on. Btw…. Dry nice meeting you!

Very good play by all

Fantastic game to watch! Definitely they are at least 4.5 or higher.

Fantastic game. Pleasure to watch.

So what do you do to your rating to get in the right .right competitive category ie 3.5 etc

Yes

superb strategy, touch, technique, positioning, footwork, patience, etc all top of the top fun to watch elite play by players not at all avatar mutant physical specimens either but still elite

These teams play so much alike. I see very little drives to get them out of rhythm. All are excellent players. Lady in red is awesome and all over the court.

Very solid play, few unforced errors. Technically very solid form. Definitely better than 3.5. But not the most interesting to watch. I'd prefer more fireworks, ATPs, Ernies, body bags, overhead smashes. faster topspin drives, shake and bakes. But that is a preference thing I guess.

Is it a different strategy on longer dinking rallies or tricky speed ups?

They didn't have strong drives or put -a -ways but had strong drops and dinks and played very consistently with very few unforced errors. I agree with you, at least 4.0 . Most players I see at 4.0 can't drop and are more like 3.5. To answer your question, no, I could not beat them!

Thank you so much.

FAB match!✅👊👍

I think they are excellent players and fun to watch. But one thing I noticed was that they didn't smack the ball a few times when it was up high, and they could put it away.

Incredible pickleball!!! That's my friend Woody and Michelle.

Most other sports, when you play that much over level for an event that you sign up for you would get disqualified, but not Pickleball. I agree the match was amazing. This is the perfect example of how Pickleball is such a poorly handicap sport that the sandbagging runs rampant.

Playing down a level or two...or three, is seen in local tournaments. Many strong league players avoid tournaments for that reason.

Really enjoyed that video. I watched all the way to the end where you discussed their DUPR numbers. I'd be interested if you could describe how the tournament gave them a 3.5 rating but the DUPR numbers were 4.5 or more. You gave a very brief explanation saying that was what the tournament required or came up with.

I agree I like that 2handed returns from that player that is a first for me wow it works great

really incredible

Wow! These are not 3.5 players. Easily 4-4.5 players. An absolute pleasure to watch!!!!!

Amazing!

What a match!!!

Yes, this is great game!

4.5 plus I would like to know the amount of time they drill weekly

Great to watch and learn. Question...Why do you think the team with the lady in red chose to stack with her on the left instead of right for the 2nd and 3rd games??

Amazing

all players are truly fundamentally sound....these would be fun games to play

Great public service announcement regarding eyewear guards. I saw two accidents last week.

Fantastic play from both groups. They may be rated 3.5 but the way they play is much higher imo

Very good players!

Well above 3.5. Dinks are very good. Only the smashes seem a bit slower than expected. Good ones don't get returned. Nice recovery on the lobs.

I like everyone’s positivity but I wonder why no one mentions the problem we are having today in the tournament scene and that’s absolutely no judges and referees stepping in and not allowing these 4.5+ players to participate. Sand bagging(purposely playing at a lower level) is rampant. It’s more like who can sandbag harder at this point. Hopefully at least these players are recorded down somewhere with a score reflecting their true abilities and are prevented from joining future 3.5 tournaments.

Great play by both teams and that guy jumping over the net was amazing! What happened to the other team meeting at the net and saying good match?

Rory, You usually criticize lobs and pity pats. "Oh no, WHY is he/she doing that?" I like that you didn't criticize the effective use of lobs from the NVZ. The one where the player, on the near court, ran off camera for the lob and then lobs it back to give him or her time to get back in a defensive position was beautiful and exactly how it should be done. I like that you didn't criticize the guy with the white hat pity patting and dropping the ball over the net when his opponent was too far back to get to it. That shot is very effective. The 30 dink rallies are great but, at high levels, will end with an aggressive speed up or better yet a firefight not the inevitable unforced dinking error. Did anyone get tagged (Nasty Nelson) the entire match? These players are very good at their slow game, resets and dinks. They are very good a defending relatively slow balls landing at their feet which is hard to do consistently. It's much more difficult with more pace on the ball. I'd love to see how they would do against opponents with a more aggressive game. Forcing aggressive players to play your game and being able to reset a hard hit drive is a high level skill. Being able to reset a ball hit hard at your feet is a high level skill.

well, when you look up their names in the bracket, then check DUPR, it's no surprise

Wow great pickleball to watch ever ! Love it ! Tennis players are ruining Pickelball every one driving the ball so hard ! Nothing like this been played anymore !

Rating system is a joke

Keep a lookout for me at 1.0 nationals! 💪

Yes, I agree that this was a great match. The fact that the both teams were very adapt at the soft game and embraced it, made it so I think. But I do think if one team was more aggressively "banging", it would've changed the narrative. The fact is the sport is moving towards speed. We either accept that or we keep to the yesteryears.

I think quite a few opportunities for putaways were not taken by both teams which I can understand after what must have been a very very long day with lots of play. Great hands all around. The guy on the winning team was not real strong with overheads and putaways but wow, he has hands of silk, just perfect. Great play all around, enjoyable to watch, and uh, c'mon Pickleball, do something about these ratings please. Thanks for posting.

They all show great patience, especially as they must have been playing for 12 hours + that day For the curious, the DUPR record of this "3.5" match: Michelle Annett (4.5) & Todd Woodhouse (5.2) bt. Kristen Chandler (4.9) & Michael Moon (4.4) 🤨

The lady in black is very skilled!

Im 51 and just started playing in January. Consider myself a 3.25 range player. No way I could hang with these players. Just a bunch of pure WALLS especially lady in orange. I would rate her 4.5 and her partner 4.25. The other team the male at 4.5 and his partner at 4.25. I thought it was a mistake to target the lady in orange but it worked out.

something to aspire to.

This is an ongoing issue at Nationals and even other big tournaments. If you are a true 3.5 you will have no chance of winning if you play in your correct level.

So funny with ranking…I’ve watched many of these online matches and these four seem so much more disciplined with their play than many 4.0 and 4.5 level tournament matches posted to youtube.

I see a lot of transition position hitting, when a team is at the baseline-opposite team is banging instead of dinking the ball back in the kitchen, Please show us a 4.5-5.0, 50+ game.to compare whether these players intentionally played in a lower division to win a medal.

Great play. That's got to be 5.0 or better. It's really not fair to others in the tournament who actually are playing at their stated level.

I would like to know how old the player is who hopped the net after winning (with matches lasting as long as they did). We need some of what he has been taking. I believe the winning team was much older by about ten years and despite the age gap had better technique. Agree the lady in orange was a tremendous defender. Both teams were easily 4.5 players. They exemplify what Cory has been pointing out.

The play is consistent, but not any attacking play. Hitting soft may look impressive until someone hits a ball with some pace to draw an error. The ball is being hit so soft by both teams so less errors by both.

I ditto I like this form 😊

What's the best way to submit videos for you to review? There's no direct message feature but my most recent video from the PPA would be a good one to look at!

good adjective for rating maybe: scatter shot

I would say because they have all the shots. 4.5/5.0

The people I play with are all about smashing the ball all the time.

What people have to understand is that your rating is relative the opposition. If you put either of these teams in a higher bracket the shots coming at them will be faster, better placed and more consistent. They are solid 3.5 for their age but will struggle at higher levels unless they develop more power in their shots. Thnx for your reviews.

Great match, if this is 3.5, I have a long way to go.😂

Seasoned players no matter their age. Great patience,shots, and strategies. 4.5

I feel sorry for the real 3.5 players who were knocked out earlier on.

4.5 for sure!!

are the rankings off DUPR or Pickleball Brackets? In Australia these guys would be 2.9 maybe.

I just watched another video of yours going over 5.0 play; the players in this video seem MUCH better than the players in the other video.

4.5

exactly 3.5

Would be nice to know what their DUPR ratings are.

Are some tournaments best of three?

I don’t care if it’s UTPR, DUPR, or a local tournament self declared…. Sandbagging in tournaments will be the death of it. Especially at 3.0-3.5! If you’re a legit 3.5 skilled player by the charts and you pay $60-$100 to enter and get wiped by these players in the first round what fun is that and why would you come back? We should embarrass and shame sandbaggers (and in this case the tournament for allowing/forcing it). They should receive no glory for winning 1.5 levels lower than their actual skills. Great play though, what I would definitely consider “real” pickleball.

These players didn't do any shots that my group and I don't do all the time. Two things made them really effective players. One was their consistency- very few unforced errors. The other was that they played smart. I am rated 3.9 on DUPR, and I win about 90% of the games I play because I am one of the few players that does resets, dinks and 3rd of 5th shot drops, and plays for placement instead of just power. A lot of much younger players lose to me because they just bang everything without any thought in their game. (I'm 69, and very athletic for my age, but I still can't match the 20 - 40 year old physicality of many opponents that I regularly beat.) Some people just don't seem to catch on to the strategy of the game.

Can we get a counter on how many times you mention they are not 3.5?

Lady in red maybe higher than 4.5?

These are not truly rated at 3.5, these players claimed they are 3.5 however they are at least 4.0+ or maybe 4.5 and very consistent (not like the normal 3.5 that are not consistent). I do believe they are 50+. (It's unfortunates that true 3.5 player don't have a chance)

This was a nice match..... and they weren't playing tennis like half the young kids bring to the court.

Hi Roy

4.0-4.5 all day

These people are ridiculously better than 3.5. I would estimate the average rating to actually be about 4.80.

You just beathlessly said, "Look at this!" Talking about the defense of the woman in the orange shirt. True, she defended both put away attempts by the male player in black, but you completely neglected to point out that he hit two consecutive patty cake "put aways" right to her. So, yeah, is it really that impressive?